. . .only those whom the God they knew turned over to wallow in their sin. Romans, Chapter 1.

Certain things have happened in my life lately to cause me to think about why I love the Scriptures – my Bible – without all the ‘extras’ like commentaries, concordances, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and all the other ‘people’ available I can use to help me understand it. Don’t misunderstand me, I like all those things, but they also tempt me to be lazy. So I started a list. There’s a personal story or two (or three or more) around each item on the list, I just didn’t just make these up. This morning, June 7, 2009, at 7:10 A.M. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time, this old soldier proclaims to anyone who might read this, I LOVE MY BIBLE! OK, here’s the list so far:

• God wrote it.
• I have an embedded instructor, the Holy Spirit.
• It says what it means and means what it says.
• It always tells me the truth about me.
• Sometimes it’s like a cool drink of water on a hot day or a warm blanket on a cold night.
• Sometimes it’s a trip to the woodshed, but that’s OK too.
• There are times when a single verse at the right moment is all it takes for an important truth to sink in.
• When one verse isn’t clear about a particular subject, there are usually others that are.
• If there isn’t a clear rule or regulation (like the Big 10) there is a principle to be found.
• If I assume it’s ALL true those things that seem to contradict really don’t. Sometimes it takes a little more study, but that’s OK. I love the book.
• Sometimes a single verse at the right time is all it takes for God to settle a matter for me.
• A verse out of context is prone to misapplication. ‘Context’ is to Scripture what ‘location’ is to marketing.
• I should read everything Scripture says about something before I go to other people, commentaries, etc. Sometimes that takes a little discipline, but it’s really worth it. Finding out that my on-board instructor told me the same thing He told Augustine, Luther, Spurgeon, and a few guys still alive, is a good feeling.
• If it can’t be clearly supported (versus ‘proof-texted’) by Scripture, it’s probably not a spiritually life-threatening issue. Sometimes it just ain’t so.
• If all the commentaries, study guides, teachers, preachers, pontificators and motivators disappeared, I’d still get down the trail of life just fine.

If you’ve read this far, and something in the list ‘rang a bell’ for you, please share it. And if something not on the list rang a bell, share that too! We would love to hear from you.

“God meant to say what He said, He said what He meant to say, and we can understand what He meant to say by reading what He did say.”

If you want to know what God has said, just READ THE BOOK!

A 12 March 2009 article in the Jerusalem Post began with this:

“After meeting the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, and praying at the Western Wall on Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI arrived for a historic meeting with the chief rabbis at Heichal Shlomo, next to the capital’s Great Synagogue, and agreed that the Catholic Church will cease all missionary activity among Jews.”

I confess that I was immediately somewhat incensed that the leader of a large segment of professing Christendom would dare make such a statement! That’s in direct violation of the Great Commission! Christians don’t have the right too stop evangelization efforts to any people group!

There have since been articles published from the Catholic sector that say the Pope didn’t really say that, but that’s not the point of this blog post. I have no desire to get into any sort of wrangling about what the Pope did or did not say/mean, or the content/validity of RC message. So if you read this and have a burning desire to comment in either of those directions, please don’t.

What has captured my attention, with the seriousness of a heart attack, is that we Protestants, who call ourselves ‘evangelical’, are quite adept at something with far worse soul-damaging potential than NOT evangelizing when we spread a false gospel while claiming to share the Gospel! Before you get all huffy, hear me out.

You see, the Apostle Paul clearly defined an absolutely necessary point of any valid Gospel message – that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (See 1 Cor 15:1-5).  That Christ died for our sins was the first of three points in Paul’s description of the Gospel, and what he emphasized repeatedly in the letters he wrote to several churches of his day.

Yet the issue of sin, beginning with the devastating effect of sin on all mankind after the Fall, is missing from much of what we like to call “spreading the good news!” Instead we would attempt to ‘attract’ lost people to Christ just by telling them how much Jesus loves them, has a wonderful plan for their life, and how they can find their best life now. We have replaced the God-centered Gospel message of Scripture, the message that is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe, with the man-centered, moralistic, therapeutic message of pop-psychology that sends people straight to Hell while they are convinced they are Heaven-bound!

Shame on the Pope? Maybe.

If our Protestant ‘evangelical’ message is missing the central issue in all of Scripture. . .SHAME ON US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“For whom did Christ die?” is a question that has generated a lot of books, sermons, discussions,  debates, and arguments. Apart from attempting to answer that question at this juncture, consider the statement in the title. Does scripture contain such a statement, or even passages that would support such a statement” Here’s an example – what did the angel mean when he told Joseph:

“…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” – Matt:1:20-21

Do those two verses support the idea proposed in the title?

This post is not whether or not God’s Sovereign Election of all believers everywhere is valid doctrine, but asks the question WHY?

IF the human will of natural man is so affected by sin that he is lacks any ability, in and of himself, to choose Christ as Savior and Lord, and therefore, since God decided to have a people for Himself, for His glory, for His Name, God enables men to choose Christ, draws them irresistibly to Himself, and grants them eternal life instead of letting them all “go straight to jail”, condemned in their unbelief (John 3:18) what’s to resist?

And after all, isn’t God, GOD?

There is a reason jewelers display fine diamonds against the backdrop of black felt under bright light. The jeweler wants his fine diamonds to be irresistible to the potential purchaser.

God’s grace in the salvation of men is like the jeweler and his fine diamonds. When the natural man, aided by the Holy Spirit, perceives the blackness of his sin and is shown the beauty of God’s Son under the light of the Gospel, he will run to the Cross of Christ. That’s irresistible Grace.

I started listening to Ezekiel during my drive time this morning and was greatly encouraged by Eze 3:1-4:

Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”

So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll.

He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you ” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

There are times when trying to just put out there verbally and/or at blogs, etc., solid, scripture based material, one can get discouraged and get a ‘why bother’ attitude. It seems most folks are just interested in “Band-Aids” for life’s boo-boos, or personal opinions, all of which are equally valid (never mind if they are out of their scriptural context or even non-scriptural).

The personal lesson for this old soldier:

I need to just “eat the scroll”, fill my whole being with it and then “speak to the house of Israel” (fellow believers in this struggle called life). If I have not “eaten the scroll” I should keep my mouth shut until I have dined appropriately. When I speak, I can leave my opinions at home unless specifically asked for them. If I initiate what is only opinion, I need to caveat what I speak. If and when I speak, it should be with gentleness, respect and love, meaning I need to be always praying over my words that “flesh” doesn’t get in the way.

So I was encouraged and admonished at the same time.

Below is an excellent summary of the five “Solas” of the Protestant Reformation. They were originally wirtten for the 1993 Reformation Celebration at Audubon Drive Bible Church in Laurel, MS, as part of a worship service.

Sola Scriptura: The Scripture Alone is the Standard

The doctrine that the Bible alone is the ultimate authority was the “Formal Principle” of the Reformation. In 1521 at the historic interrogation of Luther at the Diet of Worms, he declared his conscience to be captive to the Word of God saying, “Unless I am overcome with testimonies from Scripture or with evident reasons — for I believe neither the Pope nor the Councils, since they have often erred and contradicted one another — I am overcome by the Scripture texts which I have adduced, and my conscience is bound by God’s Word.” Similarly, the Belgic Confession stated, “We believe that [the] holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation is sufficiently taught therein…Neither may we consider any writings of men, however holy these men may have been, of equal value with those divine Scriptures nor ought we to consider custom or the great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times and persons, or councils, decrees or statutes, as of equal value with the truth of God… Therefore, we reject with all our hearts whatsoever does not agree with this infallible rule” (VII).

As the Scripture says,
Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Thy law….I will bow down toward Thy holy temple, And give thanks to Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth; For Thou hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy name….You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (Psalm 119:18; Psalm 138:2; II Tim. 3:14-17)

Soli Deo Gloria! For the Glory of God Alone

The Reformation reclaimed the Scriptural teaching of the sovereignty of God over every aspect of the believer’s life. All of life is to be lived to the glory of God. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” This great and all consuming purpose was emphasized by those in the 16th and 17th Centuries who sought to reform the church according to the Word of God. In contrast to the monastic division of life into sacred versus secular perpetuated by Roman Church, the reformers saw all of life to be lived under the Lordship of Christ. Every activity of the Christian is to be sanctified unto the glory of God.

As the Scripture says,
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God; Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (1CO 10:31; 1PE 4:11; REV 1:6; 2PE 3:1; EPH 3:21; REV 7:12; ROM 11:36)

Solo Christo! By Christ’s Work Alone are We Saved

The Reformation called the church back to faith in Christ as the sole mediator between God and man. While the Roman church held that “there is a purgatory and that the souls there detained are helped by the intercessions of the faithful” and that “Saints are to be venerated and invoked;” “that their relics are to be venerated” — the reformers taught that salvation was by Christ’s work alone. As John Calvin said in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, “Christ stepped in, took the punishment upon himself and bore the judgment due to sinners. With his own blood he expiated the sins which made them enemies of God and thereby satisfied him…we look to Christ alone for divine favour and fatherly love!” Likewise the Heidelberg Catechism, Question 30 asks, “Do such then believe in Jesus the only Saviour who seek their salvation and happiness in saints, in themselves, or anywhere else? They do not; for though they boast of him in words yet in deeds they deny Jesus the only deliverer and Saviour: for one of these two things must be true that either Jesus is not a complete Saviour or that they who by a true faith receive this Saviour must find all things in him necessary to their salvation.”

As the Scripture says,
There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time...For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. (1TI 2:5-6; COL 1:13-18)

Sola Gratia: Salvation by Grace Alone

A central cry of the Reformation was salvation by grace. Though the Roman church taught that Mass is a “sacrifice [which] is truly propitiatory” and that by the Mass “God…grant[s] us grace and the gift of penitence, remits our faults and even our enormous sins” — the reformers returned to the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. Our righteous standing before God is imputed to us by grace because of the work of Christ Jesus our Lord. In contrast to the doctrines of self-merit taught by Rome, sola gratia and the accompanying doctrines of grace — total depravity, unconditional election, particular redemption, and perseverance of the saints — were preached by all the reformers throughout the Protestant movement. As the Baptist Confession of 1689 says, “Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did, by the sacrifice of himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in their behalf;…their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.”

As the Scripture says,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. (Ephesians 1:3-8)

Sola Fide: Justification by Faith Alone

The “Material Principle” of the Reformation was justification by faith alone. As the Westminster Confession of Faith says, “Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.” The Genevan Confession likewise pointed out the necessity of those justified living by faith saying, “We confess that the entrance which we have to the great treasures and riches of the goodness of God that is vouchsafed us is by faith; inasmuch as, in certain confidence and assurance of heart, we believe in the promises of the gospel, and receive Jesus Christ as he is offered to us by the Father and described to us by the Word of God (Genevan 11).

As the Scripture says,
Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed in you.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:6-11)

Vodpod videos no longer available.